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Iowa State class creates a memory care garden for Alzheimer's
patients in Ackley

For the past three months, students in Bridget Belkacemi's
landscape architecture studio class at Iowa State University worked with
staff at the Presbyterian Village in Ackley to design and create a
therapeutic garden for the facility's newest wing--the dementia care unit.
Students carefully chose each element to elicit soothing memories of
childhood in a German farming community in Iowa--from a clothesline and hand
pump to corn plants and lilacs.

ISU leading the way in sustainability in College of Design building
addition

King Pavilion will meet high green building and performance measurements including lower
operating costs, increased asset value, reduced waste sent to landfills,
decreased water and energy use and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. It is
scheduled to open for classes in August 2009.

ISU professors, CHS entrepreneurship classes making over four Elkader
businesses

ISU professors Linda Niehm and Ann Marie Fiore and 22
students from their AESHM 474-574 "Entrepreneurship in Human Sciences"
classes are in Elkader this week making branding modifications,
merchandising makeovers and marketing recommendations on four downtown
businesses. It's all part of a Main Street Iowa and Iowa Department of
Economic Development funded-initiative.

Iowa State student receives Goldwater Scholarship

Goran Micevic, a third-year student in biochemistry who plans on becoming a biomedical researcher, has been named a Goldwater Scholar for 2009-10. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. Micevic is among 278 college students nationwide selected for the competitive scholarship. Katherine Tsamis, a third-year student in biology, received honorable mention.

In a national study of 1,178 American youths (ages 8-18), ISU
Assistant Professor of Psychology Douglas Gentile found nearly one in 10 of
the gamers to be pathological players according to standards
established for pathological gambling. His paper was posted today on the Web
site of Psychological Science, the journal of the Association for
Psychological Science.

ISU health officials alert students to Spencer measles case

ISU health officials are advising students, faculty or staff who were in Spencer on April 11 or 12 to check their immunizations records for measles. The very contagious disease was diagnosed in a youngster in that area.

New visitor center for prospective students, families

Don Soults (left), an ISU alumnus from Vienna, Va., and President Gregory Geoffroy cut the ribbon at the Soults Family Visitor Center in the Memorial Union. The new facility provides a presentation room, reception area and lounge for thousands of prospective students and their families who visit Iowa State each year. The center was funded in part by a lead gift from Soults.

Iowa State University architecture class wins national prize

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) has recognized an innovative ISU architecture course with a $25,000 cash award. The Bridge Studio won the 2009 NCARB Grand Prize for Creative Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy. The interdisciplinary studio worked with the nonprofit Community Housing Development Corporation in Des Moines to help integrate sustainable systems into the organization's single-family affordable homes. They also worked in Cedar Rapids to develop prototype modular housing options for people whose homes were badly damaged or destroyed during the 2008 floods. The Bridge Studio was developed and taught by architecture lecturer Nadia Anderson.

Iowa State students engineer a lighter, smaller human-powered vehicle

Iowa State University's Human Powered Vehicle Team tries to
continue its winning ways April 17-19 in Philadelphia. Team members think
the two-person, three-wheeled, pedal-powered vehicle they've engineered will
be the team's fastest yet.

Agronomy professor named George Washington Carver Chair

Andrew Manu, associate professor of agronomy, has been named to the George
Washington Carver Chair, the first endowed faculty position in the nation
honoring the renowned scientist and ISU alumnus. Manu will conduct an
academic program in sciences related to agronomy and the bioeconomy.

Non-farm ag students get on-farm experience

Not all students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are "farm kids." In fact, many have never set foot on a farm, let alone a working Iowa farm. But each semester, groups of students get some quality on-farm time as participants in the college's Agriculture Weekend Experience program. Besides experiencing production farming, students get a firsthand glimpse into the heart of Iowa.

High schoolers learn IT by defending networks, fighting robots,
designing games

Teams of high school students from all over Iowa will compete
in the second annual IT-Olympics at Iowa State University. They'll do their
best to defend computer networks from hackers, build LEGO robots capable of
sumo-style moves and design educational computer games. The competition is
April 20-21 at Hilton Coliseum. The event is free and open to the public.

Asian American students will honor former Gov. Robert Ray on April 23

Former Iowa Gov. Robert D. Ray, who opened Iowa's doors to thousands of Southeast Asian refugees after the fall of Saigon, will be the first inductee in the ISU Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Hall of Fame. He will attend the ceremony during Asian Cultural Night, 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of Iowa State's Asian American Heritage Week celebration, "Different Faces, Different Journeys: One Vision," April 20-24.

ISU team to compete in IBM-sponsored 'Battle of the Brains' world
competition

A team of Iowa State students will be one of 100 collegiate
teams that will gather in Stockholm, Sweden from April 18-21
to compete in the 33rd annual Association for Computing Machinery
International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals,
sponsored by IBM.

Iowa State University selects three new deans

Following national searches to fill dean posts in its colleges of Design, Engineering and Human Sciences, Iowa State University President Gregory Geoffroy has announced the successful candidates who will lead those colleges.

Iowa's state and local tax burden is below national average, says
ISU researcher

Jeffrey Zaslow will discuss his new book, The Girls from Ames, on April 23

Jeffrey Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal columnist and the coauthor of the international best seller, "The Last Lecture," has written a new book about the lifelong friendships among 11 women from Ames. He will introduce his book and the women who inspired it at a presentation at Iowa State University. "The Girls from Ames" will be at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in the Memorial Union Sun Room. It is free and open to the public.

Relive Veishea 2009 through panoramas

Lovebirds

If you're a hopeless romantic, be sure to check out the spring 2009 issue of VISIONS magazine -- it's all about finding love at Iowa State. Also in this issue are features on golfer Tyler Swanson's amazing recovery following a near-fatal car accident and art professor Chuck Richards' latest literary adventure. VISIONS is published by the ISU Alumni Association.

Spring fashions, local Marc Jacobs designer featured in April 25 ISU Fashion Show

The ISU Fashion Show 2009 will be held on Saturday, April 25, in Stephens Auditorium, and feature work by Mansoor Amjed -- a Des Moines native who is a designer for women's wovens at Marc by Marc Jacobs. The event will have a showcase exhibit of student portfolios and mounted pieces at 6 p.m., with the runway show scheduled for 7 p.m.

In the news

10 high fliers on Twitter

Chronicle of Higher Education

Scott McLeod, an associate professor at Iowa State University
and director of the university's Center for the Advanced Study of Technology
Leadership in Education, was listed eighth among the Chronicle's list of 10
college Twitterers worth following.

Violent video games not a safe outlet for aggression, doctor
says

Dr. Douglas Gentile runs the Media Research Lab at Iowa State
University, where he studies media's effects on children and adults. He says
there have been hundreds of studies about whether media violence can
actually help reduce aggression by giving players a "safe" outlet for
aggressive fantasies.

Can robots be programmed to learn from their own experiences?

Scientific American

"Personal robots" -- inexpensive machines that can help out at
home or the office -- may be closer than we think. But first, says Alexander
Stoytchev, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at
Iowa State University in Ames, robots have to be taught to do something we
know instinctively: how to learn.

Eyewitness: How accurate is visual memory?

60 Minutes

ISU Distinguished Professor Gary Wells tells CBS' Lesley Stahl that reinforcement alters memory when it comes to identifying suspects in a lineup. And for that matter, Wells says, viewing photos of people one at a time is a more accurate way to identify a suspect than comparing people to one another.